


How Do I Make Him Sleep?

by RichardGraysonPercyJackson



Series: The Acrobat and The Mercenary [64]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Past Rape/Non-con, Protective Slade Wilson, Trauma, and it's none of the main charactes, anything else?, but only mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:46:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24296068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RichardGraysonPercyJackson/pseuds/RichardGraysonPercyJackson
Summary: Dick came back from patrol at two Am but instead of going to bed, he insisted on staying up with Slade until the mercenary goes to bed at four.Now it's four and Dick won't stop talking.Slade grows concerned and calls for help.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Slade Wilson
Series: The Acrobat and The Mercenary [64]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1323779
Comments: 9
Kudos: 296





	How Do I Make Him Sleep?

**Author's Note:**

> It's me, ya boi

“You used to hate me, right? Like, I mean,  _ really _ hate me. Like, ‘string my insides up around your apartment for decoration’ hate me.”

Slade looked up from his tablet, staring at the wall across from where he was seated on the couch, letting himself process the words before looking over at Dick who was hanging upside down off the couch next to him and promptly asked,

“What the fuck?”

Dick shrugged without looking at him. “Isn’t it weird how baby animals just see to know how the world works in, like, ten minutes of being born but humans take  _ years _ , sometimes our whole lives, to learn even a  _ fraction _ of how the world works.”

“Richard?”

“Yes?”

“What are you talking about?”

From where he was seated and from the angle Dick was laying, Slade couldn’t make out the acrobat’s expression, but eh saw Dick shrug before the younger replied,

“I don’t really know.”

“Just talking to talk?” Slade offered, voice softening a bit. The way it only ever did around Dick.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Did something happen on patrol?”

“No.”

“Are you hurt?”

“That’s a good question,” Dick replied, lifting his head to look at Slade and ask, “Was that a good response?”

It was not. “I suppose that depends.”

“On?”

“If you’re hurt or not.”

Dick was silent for a long time, drumming his fingers on the small slip of skin between his sweatpants and the hem of his shirt before he replied,

“I love you.”

“I know.” Slade set his tablet down. “Richard, I need you to sit up and look at me. This is important.”

Dick hummed softly. “I really love you,” he mumbled - probably to himself - before he finally pushed himself upright so that he was seated cross legged on the other end of the couch from Slade, facing the mercenary.

“What happened on patrol?” Slade asked, crossing one leg over the other and slinging an arm across the back of the couch as he shifted to better look directly at Dick, deciding to use the acrobat’s responses to determine the next course of action.

“What time is it?”

“It’s four AM,” Slade replied slowly, filing away a possible concussion as a reason Dick may be acting a little off. “You came back two hours ago, took a shower, then joined me on the couch.”

“Oh.” Dick frowned. “I don’t think I remember that.”

Alright. So Slade was almost one hundred percent certain that concussion was his problem.

“Walk me through your patrol, Dick,” he requested gently. “Please?”

“Why?”

“I’m worried you may have gotten hurt,” Slade replied. “Or drugged. Can you please walk me through your night?”

“You don’t say please very often.”

“I know.”

“Which means you really, really wanna know. Cause that’s the only reason you ever say it.”

“Perhaps. Can you tell me?”

Dick was silent for a few moments before replying, “We had sex before I left.”

Slade chuckled softly, inclining his head in Dick’s direction, “We did,” he confirmed.

“Do we always?”

“Not always.” Alright, so now Slade was starting to suspect a body or mind transfer. Clone too, maybe. Internally he filed all the information he was gathering away in order to try and figure out what was wrong with his husband as fast as possible.

“I didn’t shower before I went on patrol.”

“You did not.”

“There were a few muggings.” Finally Dick was on track. While Slade may have often enjoyed hearing Dick ramble - something he did very often if ever he decided to get out of bed with Slade at five in the morning - he did not enjoy it when he was trying to determine if his husband was sick. “I think there was a rape attempt too.”

“You think?”

“It was her brother.”

“Ah.”

“I met up with Jay,” Dick said, getting back on track. “We sat and talked for a bit.”

Slade’s ears seemed to perk up when he heard that. “Jason was in Bludhaven?” he asked.

“Yeah, I had a file I needed to get to B and it made more sense for Jay to come get it since he was stopping by Blud anyway.”

“Why was he stopping by?”

“Jay’s a private person,” Dick replied. 

“Meaning?”

“I don’t know.”

Slade let that go, not bothering to ask for a clarification. “Did anything else happen?”

“No,” Dick replied. “Jay and I met around one and then he left and I came home.”

“Thank you.”

“Did you know that rabbits will eat their own young if they're stressed enough?”

“Okay,” Slade said slowly as he stood and headed into the bedroom. “I think it’s time we called for some help.”

………………………..

_ “How do I make your brother sleep without knocking him out?” _

Tim blinked, frowning and looking at his phone and the unknown number as though it would give him more information about the caller than it had when he’d answered. 

“Who is this?” he asked.

_ “Slade Wilson,”  _ the caller replied _. “How do I get your brother to sleep?” _

Tim blinked. “Dick?”

_ “Who else?” _

“Uh…” Tim cleared his throat. “It’s four in the morning.”

“ _ I’m aware. _ ” The tone of Slade’s voice told Tim that the man was not impressed.

“Is Dick okay?”

“ _ He’s bouncing off the walls like a child and has been talking almost nonstop about the most random topics for the last two hours,”  _ Slade replied. After a small beat he added, in a slightly softer voice,  _ “He may have been dosed with something on patrol.” _

“Shit,” was Tim’s eloquent reply. “Um, can you get a blood sample?”

_ “If I could get a blood sample, do you think I would be calling you?”  _

Tim shrugged. “Fair enough,” he muttered. “Okay, uh, well if he’s been dosed with something then it’s probably not a good idea to let him sleep.” after a beat he added. “Or to knock him out.”

“ _ I’m open to suggestions _ ,” Slade ground out between clenched teeth.

Tim pressed his lips together. “Just...hang on, give me a second to think. Please.”

“Yes, take your time,” Slade drawled. “It’s not as though I need to get up for the day in an hour yet I’ve had no sleep at this point.”

“Sleep in then,” Tim couldn’t help but snap. He may have been the most tolerant of Dick and Slade’s relationship but it was damn clear it also had the least amount of patience for the mercenary.

Slade did not reply but Tim resisted the urge to pull his phone away from his ear, taking a few minutes to think about how they might be able to help the acrobat before a thought popped into mind.

“Is today an anniversary of some sort? Today, last night, whatever.”

“Anniversary?”

“You know, like…” Tim bit his lip. “Like the anniversary of his parents’ death.”

“It’s not.”

“No, I-” Tim fought down a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “It was just an example.”

“You mean to ask is any point in the last or coming twenty-four hours an anniversary of a trauma he’s suffered.”

“Yes,” Tim replied. “Like his parents or Jason or-”

“Tarantula.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“No, it is,” Slade said, cursing under his breath. “He said he stopped an attempted rape tonight.”

“Shit,” Tim whispered. “Yeah, that’s probably what set him off.”

“He wouldn’t go to bed when he got back, insisted on staying up with me,” Slade went on and Tim couldn’t help but smile at the concern he heard bleeding into the older man’s voice. “He knows I go to bed at four, which is right about when he started talking.”

“In the hopes that if he was talking, you wouldn’t go to bed.”

“Fuck.”

Tim really tried not to laugh but he couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard the mercenary swear so much (or at all).

“I assume you can take it from here?”

He was met with a dial tone.

……………………………….

“Can we talk?”

“Sure,” Dick said, chipper as ever, but Slade could see the terror and exhaustion behind his eyes, could see the minute tremors wracking his body as Slade took a seat on the couch which Dick vacated since the older male had gotten up to call Tim in the bedroom.

“I think we should start using...phrases.”

Dick frowned. “Phrases?”

“Instead of...finding ways to avoid thinking about what the date is,” Slade said slowly, choosing his words carefully. “Perhaps find a phrase you can use-”

“Be blunt. Please.”

“It’s the anniversary of Tarantula,” Slade said. Dick flinched. Slade went on. “I would like to come up with-”

“Safewords.”

“Safewords or phrases,” Slade replied. “A way to remind me of what you’re dealing with so that we can work on it together. Rather than letting me spend two hours thinking you have a concussion or were drugged.”

Dick curled in on himself. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“You wanted sex before you went on patrol,” the mercenary said slowly. “Was that why?”

“I thought if I had consensual sex with someone I loved, someone I  _ trusted _ , that maybe I’d be okay. But then...then the two on patrol and I almost just walked away and let him keep touching her and all I could think about was them and Jason was just  _ too _ close and-”

“Breathe.” Dick sucked in a sharp breath and Slade couldn’t help the soft laugh as he fondly said, “Not like that.”

It was such a small, mostly sarcastic phrase which was said mostly for Slade’s own sanity, but Dick gave a weak, wet laugh in response as he looked up at Slade with tear filled eyes.

“Why is that funny?” he asked, grinning as he wiped away the tears before they could fall.

His smile was infectious and Slade felt himself smiling as well. “Your guess is as good as mine,” he said, chuckling.

Dick shook his head, sniffling and still smiling when he muttered, “I feel like shit.”

“You haven’t slept in twenty-four hours because you insisted on getting up with me at five AM yesterday morning.”

“What a mistake.”

“Definitely.”

Dick beamed at him before his smile softened into something more gentle. “Thank you.”

“For?”

“Caring.”

“Took me two hours, technically more, to figure out what the problem was.”

Dick shrugged. “It wasn’t like I was being very subtle about it,” he argued. 

“We’ve been married for six years, I should know your tells by now,” Slade replied.

“Well, I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, so you’ve got the rest of our lives to learn them.”

Slade smiled before standing and offering his hand. “Do you think you want to try and get some sleep?” he asked gently. “Sleeping in was recently recommended to me so I figured I may as well try it with you.”

“Sleeping in sounds  _ great _ .”

“As long as it’s with you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know your thoughts


End file.
